After last year's successful Displaying Futures symposium in Tokyo, Merck is holding a second such symposium today at the Xue Xue Institute in Taipei, Taiwan. Together with interdisciplinary experts Merck will look into expanded opportunities for the global display industry.

Merck's Displaying Futures symposium aims to explore patterns and create a vital platform with events, publications and workshops to develop future scenarios from the perspective of architects, designers, artists and scientists. The Displaying Futures initiative reflects Merck's ambition to actively shape developments in this sector.

The theme of this year's Displaying Futures meeting is "Seamless Transitions - from urbanity to products." Its goal is to demonstrate how ultra-modern communication technologies can be linked in urban spaces, where more and more people are living and will be living in the future.

"After the first successful Displaying Futures symposium in Japan, we are happy to offer the next such event here Taipei," said Dr. Bernd Reckmann, Executive Board Member responsible for Merck's Chemicals business sector. "As a market leader in the display industry, we have invited participants to come together and think outside the box to develop future applications for this exciting industry."

"Merck is trying to initiate a platform to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Therefore, Displaying Futures is not just a one-time effort; we will look into potential concepts discussed in the symposium, and hold workshops to further develop them into projects and products. Besides the panel industry, we also believe that the program will drive the development of IT, medical, architecture, and other related industries. Most importantly, future user needs will truly be satisfied as technology product will be closer to humanity. Ultimately this will improve the overall quality of life," explains Dick Hsieh, Managing Director of Merck in Taiwan.

In 2018, global server shipments will grow 8.5% to reach 13.73 million units. Digitimes Research estimates server shipments worldwide will grow at a CAGR of 6.5% during the period 2017-2022, with growth mainly driven by large-scale data centers and the China market.

Digitimes Research expects global AP shipments to surpass the 1.9 billion mark in 2017, with smartphones remaining the main application. Qualcomm will be leading the market in 2017, as other players continue playing catch up and scramble for funds to invest in more diverse applications.